International Journal of Academic Research in Public Policy and GOvernance Vol. 7 , No. 1, 2020, E-ISSN: 2312-4040 © 2020 KWP Covid-19 Outbreak & Response of Emergency Medical Serivce (Rescue 1122) in Pakistan–Way Forward Rizwan Naseer, Yasir Riaz Gillani, Mohsin Durrani To Link this Article: http://dx.doi.org/10.46886/IJARPPG/v7-i1/7310 DOI:10.46886/IJARPPG/v7-i1/7310 Received: 08 October 2020, Revised: 10 November 2020, Accepted: 19 November 2020 Published Online: 28 December 2020 In-Text Citation: (Naseer et al, 2020) To Cite this Article: Naseer, R., Gillani, Y. R., & Durrani, M. (2020). Covid-19 Outbreak & Response of Emergency Medical Serivce (Rescue 1122) in Pakistan–Way Forward. International Journal of Academic Research in Public Policy and Governance, 7(1), 100–110. Copyright: © 2020 The Author(s) Published by Knowledge Words Publications (www.kwpublications.com) This article is published under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY 4.0) license. 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The full terms of this license may be seen at: http://creativecommons.org/licences/by/4.0/legalcode Vol. 7, No. 1, 2020, Pg. 100 - 110 http://kwpublications.com/index.php/pages/detail/IJARPPG JOURNAL HOMEPAGE Full Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at https://kwpublications.com/pages/detail/publication-ethics 100 International Journal of Academic Research in Public Policy and GOvernance Vol. 7 , No. 1, 2020, E-ISSN: 2312-4040 © 2020 KWP Covid-19 Outbreak & Response of Emergency Medical Serivce (Rescue 1122) in Pakistan–Way Forward Dr. Rizwan Naseer, Yasir Riaz Gillani, Mohsin Durrani Punjab Emergency Service Rescue 1122 Email: [email protected] Abstract The world wide covid-19 outbreak has huge socioeconomic burden globally and the number of cases are increasing drastically. Therefore, the operational planning & response of Emergency Services is significant in designing and implementing an effective approach. Pakistan managed the COVID-19 outbreak exceptionally also acknowledged by World Health Organization. Punjab Emergency Service is the largest pre-hospital emergency care service of Pakistan that responded 7.5 M emergencies from its inception 2004 with an average of 3000 emergencies per day. During COVID -19 outbreak, the Punjab Emergency Service established field hospital for triage the patients and responded 13724 corona patients for shifting to hospitals and quarantine centers followed by 2296 corona burials, 112,409 disinfection sites and over 50,000 Rashan pack distribution to the needy . In this article the operational and relief activities of Punjab Emergency Service and lesson learned during this pandemic COVID-19 in Punjab (Pakistan) are mentioned. The future direction to effectively cope such hazards are training for the unpredictable to handle these kind of emergencies, leadership & coordination for effective utilization of resources, institutional framework, effective CDC with effective pre-hospital surveillance and efficient pre-hospital Emergency Services. Keywords: COVID-19, Punjab Emergency Service, Pakistan Introduction The Novel Corona Virus was initially found in Wuhan, China but afterwards it spread the whole globe and affect approximately more than 150 countries with its pandemic (Wu, Leung, & Leung, 2020; Zhu & Sarkis, 2004). After its deadly outbreak, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared it a pandemic on 11th March, 2020 and appeal the whole world to do collaborative efforts for preparedness and response to this virus accordingly (World Health Organization., 2020b). Till 11th of March, the outbreak of Coronavirus spread almost 113 countries and states of the world, having 118,162 confirm cases and 4290 registered deaths (mortality rate 3.36%) (World Health Organization., 2020a). Also on 26th February, 2020 the Health Authorities in Pakistan confirmed first two Corona Virus cases in Karachi and Islamabad (Ali, 2020; Pakistan latest victim of coronavirus, 2020). In the coming 15 days, the outbreak confirmed 20 new cases, with 14 cases in Sindh, 05 in 101 International Journal of Academic Research in Public Policy and GOvernance Vol. 7 , No. 1, 2020, E-ISSN: 2312-4040 © 2020 KWP Gilgit Baltistan and 1 in Baluchistan. The common cause in spread of this disease is the travel history which confirm that all the patients had a recent visit from Iran, Syria or London. As till 12th March, 2020 the Health Authorities conduct 471 samples, 20 (4.25%) had been found positive (Organziation., 2020) .As the growth rate of this virus is increasing, the health care authorities also increasing their efforts according to the number of patients. The Punjab Emergency Service is the first modern and standardize emergency Service in Pakistan that initially launched as ambulance service as a pilot project in Lahore, 2004 (Control & Prevention, 2020; Guan et al., 2020). After successfully probation period, the service further cultivate in all the remaining 36 districts of the Punjab. It provides all the life care services and operations free of cost under the supervision of Government of the Punjab through a toll free number 1122. This service, which was initially just an ambulance service, is now providing rescue, fire, ambulance, water rescue, community safety and various other emergency services to 80 million people of Punjab and also providing technical assistance to the other provinces of Pakistan (Semple, 2011). The number of production of infection by a person to others for COVID-19 is 2.2 (95% CI, 1.4 to 3.9) (De Wit, Van Doremalen, Falzarano, & Munster, 2016). The formats of this virus is suspected as the central character in expansion of this virus, as it shows resistance for days on various dirty surfaces (Li et al., 2020). Moreover, positive symptoms of SARS-CoV-2 have also been detected in human excrement, while the serum specimen shows it negative in the same person (De Wit et al., 2016).. Spread of this virus into paramedics is a serious threat. In a recent case study, there were 57(41%) patients out of a total number of 138 that were infected inside the hospital premises that include 40(29%) health professionals (Holshue et al., 2020). Various efforts are continue by most countries to develop vaccination, but World Health Organization (WHO) declares that it’s a time taking process that may be completed after a time frame of 18 months (Wang et al., 2020). After various experiments, still no effective antiviral drug has been confirmed as effective cure. After the rapid growth of Corona Virus in Pakistan, the Punjab Emergency Service initiated the necessary steps by utilizing all its available resources to save the precious lives of the individuals in District Punjab. The Punjab Emergency Service established field hospital for triage the patients and responded 12625 corona patients for shifting to hospitals and quarantine centers followed by 1838 corona burials, 112,409 disinfection sites and over 50,000 Rashan pack distribution to the needy. Scope of Work Upon the direction and supervision of the Authority (Director General), the management of all 36 districts of the Punjab were ordered for effective and timely provision and shifting of the Corona patients timely to isolation centers and hospitals. Also, directions were issued to the district in charges for their define roles and responsibilities and mutual coordination with other authorities/stake holders for coordination with the relevant tiers and monitoring of the subjective activity and to nominate their focal person for coordination with health authorities and district administration the cope this pandemic in effective manner. Rescue 1122 not only performed the duties of the shifting of the patients during COVID-19 but also performed various other activities i.e. community awareness, burial, Rashan distribution and psychosocial support as well. 102 International Journal of Academic Research in Public Policy and GOvernance Vol. 7 , No. 1, 2020, E-ISSN: 2312-4040 © 2020 KWP Methodology This is descriptive study in which the functions performed by the largest emergency service of Punjab ( Pakistan) during the COVID-19 pandemic The Punjab Emergency Service is arranging the number of infected victims as per districts. A detailed description of IT equipment, screening equipment, and logistic equipment for infection control measures along with other logistics required for the activity was devised. The equipment and logistics were distributed to all districts of the Punjab; whereas, locally hospitals have also compliance accordingly. Human resource requirements according to the districts have also been maintained to shift and hospitalize the corona patients as well as rituals. Output/ Results The Punjab Emergency Service managed the transportation, treatment and management of the COVID-19 patients exceptionally and perform following functions. Establishment of 1190 For the sake of effective management and prevention of corona emergencies , coordination, counseling, and to recommend measures for mitigation of corona hazards endangering public safety during this pandemic nation a toll free number 1190 was established nation widely by the Punjab Emergency Service. Initially mostly calls were related to info seeking regarding the infection due to COVID-19 but this toll shifted towards economic emergency gradually. Preparing for the Unpredictable After the pandemic of Corona